Guitar God

A great idea whose time is overdue. I do not like the idea of officers having to manually start the camera though. If my $50 dashcam can record continuously and store a few hours of video, their $1000 cameras surely could record an entire shift before the video is overwritten.

From a NYT article:

THE Rialto study began in February 2012 and will run until this July. The results from the first 12 months are striking. Even with only half of the 54 uniformed patrol officers wearing cameras at any given time, the department over all had an 88 percent decline in the number of complaints filed against officers, compared with the 12 months before the study, to 3 from 24.

Rialto’s police officers also used force nearly 60 percent less often — in 25 instances, compared with 61. When force was used, it was twice as likely to have been applied by the officers who weren’t wearing cameras during that shift, the study found. And, lest skeptics think that the officers with cameras are selective about which encounters they record, Mr. Farrar noted that those officers who apply force while wearing a camera have always captured the incident on video.

The taxi drivers want to be able to report bad customers? How's that going to work since passengers don't wear license plates, farang numbers or have their travel license taped to their body.

"Dispatch, Yeah, I just dropped off a farang on the way to Chit lom, he wanted me to stop a block away. Tall, light skin, big nose".

"Roger that, I'll log it in the complaint file".

In the ask a lawyer section (that doesn't allow replies) I saw:

Q. If a foreigner paid for and built a house on land owned by his girlfriend.....and when they broke off can the foreigner makes any claim to the house he paid for..thanks

A. The house must have been registered in the foreigner's name and lodged with the land office. That should have been done at the outset. Without such a transfer document the property is immovable property and remains with the land owner.

This implies a foreigner can have a house in his name (or in his and his wife's name) and have it registered at the land office. I don't know what transfer document the lawyer refers to (the registration of the house going from developer/former owner to him?) but my question is,

In order for a foreigner to have his name (also) listed as registered owner, does the house have to be paid for 100%, or can the foreigner still be listed if a mortage for half the house price has been taken out by his Thai wife?

What about after the mortgage is paid off, can the foreigner still register at the land office or is it too late because it can only be done when the house is initally bought?

I disagree, the biggest "hard drug" problem in the Netherlands is Ecstasy, second now is probably hallucinagenic mushroom, since they were reclassified along with heroin and meth as a "hard drug", oh and cannabis that's over 21% THC, or hash or extracts. Those are now "hard drugs" too.

The big cities have a few heroin addicts, like any other big city. Meth isn't much of a problem and doesn't come up in the news often. Heroin addicts are offered methadone, they get clean needles and they don't need to commit crimes to support their habit.

Probably the biggest "drug problem" they had was lack of parking at coffeeshops near borders. Those shops had so much business because of prohibition in neighboring countries the residents compained about traffic and parking problems.

Portugal, the Netherlands and other pragmatic countries have lower rates of drug use by teens and less legal, social and health problems than prohibitionist countries. Colorado is reporting a drop in violent and petty crimes since they legalised. Prohibition made things worst in the 1920's with alcohol, it's doing the same in the 2010's Everyone who has died from "spice" or other chemical "marijuana" concoctions is a direct result of prohibition.

False Claims

McCaffrey asserted that drug abuse problems in The Netherlands are "enormous" (Associated Press, July 13, 1998). In fact, the Dutch have no more drug problems than most neighboring countries which do not have "liberal" drug policies. Further, by virtually all measures the Dutch have less drug use and abuse than the U.S. — from a lower rate of marijuana use among teens to a lower rate of heroin addiction among adults.

source: http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/reinarman.dutch.html

Maybe if Thailand legalized or de-criminalized pot, they could reduce the horrible meth problem that currently exists.

Holland and a couple of other countries tried that before and it didn't work out. There're boats in Amsterdam, where heroin addicts could get their free "clean and tested by cops first" heroin, to help them. Unfortunately, all you do for them seems to go exactly in the opposite direction.

It didn't work, as so many of them put the heroin into their mouths, to later trade it with coke, to get the kick, not always on route 66.....

It's sad and true at the same time that such "drug specialists" all around the world usually know nothing about the subject at all.

I've worked with all sorts of drug addictions, brought hundreds to a therapy, visited them in jail, just to find out that most of them died overdosed when they had the chance to flee, or were released as being "clean."

This guy should watch "Kid Cannabis" and might learn a lot next time. A real watchable movie about a young bloke. A must see.

A few days ago the general of the Ubon Army base ordered his troops to buy white paint and paint over all the portraits of the king that students from the local schools paited on the west and south walls surrounding the airport around 5 years ago.

Has anyone heard why?

Personally I'd rather they used the money and manpower to fill some of the 25cm deep potholes on the roads. But they seemed to have different priorities.

I remember laying on my concrete driveway under my car in a t-shirt replacing mufflers after if warmed up to 33F. I wasn't drinking Ya Dong though.

I have worked in Alaska, and have been in 60 below zero fahrenheit. Always amusing

to see Thais bundled up and talking about a cold snap at 30 degrees...... :-)

All they need to do is to show proof that they either own the land or show a legal lease document, if they can't they have no right to be there, period. It's not complicated.

I don't have any experience with the Amway unit but I have studied test results for other water filters and saw huge differences in their efficacy. One model actually had a higher ppm output of one heavy metal. The only way to tell how good the filter is is to test the output water. RO filters can be had for a reasonable amount but be aware that if you drink only RO water you will not be getting minerals your body requires.

I wasn't aware it took 30 days. When would I need to apply if my current visa expires on day Feb 15 then? Before Jan 15?

Thanks UbonJoe, you're a scholar and a gentleman.

My retirement visa expires in February 2015. I want to change it to an extension based on marriage to a Thai citizen.

Do they require 400k in the bank for 3 or 4 months prior to renewal? I have 1M in there now but it dipped below 400k for a couple weeks in early Nov. Will they be picky about that?

For my retirement visa last year I obtained a notarized statement of income from the U.S. embassy based on income from a business I own in Europe. Should I use that for proof of income for the new extension, a letter from Bangkok Bank or both, just to be sure?

My home and registered address is in Ubon. Do I make the application at Phibun, same office where you do the 90 day reporting?

Thanks in advance.

Parts is parts...

I could imagine the horror of driving a low slung sports car around the area where I live. Even though all the roads are sealed there are still plenty of pot holes and slopes that would see the end of the suspension. So unless you are only going to take it on a freeway, it's just not going to be a practical car to drive in Thailand.

Plenty of sports cars round these parts. It just seems that the locals prefer them to be German or Italian.

What "parts" are you talking about?

The parts where I live.

The world hates a smart arse.

I wasn't puzzled by the fact that there were no roosters after the laborers took theirs. I was merely stating that none of the neighbors had roosters then, or up to a week after we moved it.

All during construction of our new house the laborers kept roosters, when they left, the roosters went with them.

A month later we move in, no roosters.

I don't understand this. Why do you find it strange or remarkable that there were no roosters if the laborers took them with them?

Why do so many Thai's keep roosters at their house? I know some people keep them for cock fights but that doesn't explain all of them.

Is it because male chicks are not as desirable as females and they can buy a rooster chick for 50 baht instead of 100 baht for a hen? They keep it for a few months and kill it an eat it?

I can see advantages of keeping chickens, free eggs or more free chickens but as far as I can tell, roosters only $hit and make noise all day. Hen lay unfertilized eggs without a rooster, the people keeping roosters don't seem to have any hens.

All during construction of our new house the laborers kept roosters, when they left, the roosters went with them.

A month later we move in, no roosters.

A week later, one family at the other end of our small community gets a rooster. Today our next-door neighbor has a rooster in a cage right on the other side of our wall and now I see him building a cage as far away from his house and as close to ours as possible. I'm guessing "roosters".

What's the advantage of keeping roosters instead of chickens, aside from annoying your neighbors?

Whatever you do, don't wear Crocs. They're made from crude oil turned into a techno plastic.

Think back to the last rubber or plastic article of clothing you wore that felt cool in the summer. Neither can I.

They don't breath. The holes are not there for ventilation, the holes are where your dignity leaks out.

Not being able to stand the heat as one ages seems contrary to my experiences. I remember whenever I'd visit my grandparents it always seemed about 10 degrees F warmer than what I thought was comfortable. This was usually winter though so maybe there's a difference. It was also dry heat in their home/oven.

I have a house In Ubon with the jungle on two sides of it with shade in the morning until noon on the east and north sides and I rarely need to turn on an air conditioner, it's really cool inside. Much cooler than a similarly constructed house I rented with less trees and shade and close in the city. "Shade trees" is the short answer.

I believe the "Class 1" referred to the type of drugs, (ya ba, crack, heroin etc.) not the amount sold, seized or his gangster status.

So it's impossible? Just give up? Thailand is different from all the other cities on the planet that don't have thousands of stray dogs roaming the cities streets?

A soi dog relocation service could make money. I'm sure there's no shortage of people here who would pay ฿100-$200 for someone to come to their neighborhood and pick up problem strays and release them in a low human/dog population location.

I know I would, Hell, I'd even throw in a rooster or two.

One healthy, age unknown, breed unknown rooster free to a good home. We're going to miss him but we no longer have space for his rooster thing because we're building stuff there now.

I keep him in my next-door neighbor's back yard. Best time to collect him would be between 23:30 and 04:00 due to scheduling issues.

No need to notify me or my neighbor when you arrive, just go right in and pick him up and he's yours. Did I mention free?

Maybe you should bring some whatever it is roosters eat so you can offer him some food so you can start bonding right off the bat.

We call him Shadafuhcap, but you're welcome to choose a new name if you want. They're not terribly intelligent animals so I doubt he'd care.

Send a pm for address.

(Photo for illustrative purposes only, not actual animal, pictured 1/8 scale)

Is this another "alcohol may have been involved " stories ?

Funny that you never read a story about violent outbreaks, assault, property damage or murder that says " pot may have been involved ".

From the looks of the accompanying photo, it appears he was growing only (unsmokable) male plants. Maybe that was his first mistake?